Taking steps to help Ugandan children

Local event part of worldwide Gulu Walk to raise money for people in war-torn region.

Local event part of worldwide Gulu Walk to raise money for people in war-torn region.

October 20, 2006|ANNA NUSSBAUM Tribune Correspondent

SOUTH BEND Lindsay Hero has hope for the children of northern Uganda. That's why the University of Notre Dame senior will be marching with hundreds of others Sunday in the second annual Gulu Walk, an event in which she takes much more than a passing interest. Beginning at Potawatomi Zoo and ending on the Indiana University South Bend campus, the Gulu Walk is more than just a local phenomenon. It is a one-day, worldwide event aimed at raising money and support for the abandoned children of northern Uganda. By raising awareness, Gulu Walk organizers and participants hope to help bring about a diplomatic resolution to the decades-long civil war that has ravaged the region. Oxfam, a development, relief and campaigning organization that works to ease poverty and suffering around the world, estimates that at least 100,000 Ugandan adults have died in the fighting, and more than 25,000 Ugandan children have been abducted and forced into battle or sexual slavery. Millions of others have been displaced. Lindsay Hero, coordinator of this year's Gulu Walk and co-coordinator last year, doesn't see herself or other Gulu Walk participants as especially heroic. Rather, she sees Gulu Walk participants as members of the global community just doing their part. "It is so important to participate in the Gulu Walk this year," Hero said. "Peace negations are under way in northern Uganda and this is the first time in 20 years that there's been real hope for the war to come to an end." Hero, a Penn High School graduate, spent last summer working with a community-based organization in Mbale, Uganda. Though she'd always had an interest in Africa and social justice, she remembers being shocked the first time she heard about Uganda's ongoing war. Like many others, she had no idea it was even happening. "I was just devastated," Hero said. "I thought, 'How did I not know more about these things?'" Learning about the human rights abuses in northern Uganda and getting interested in International Peace Studies have changed Hero's life forever. "I definitely see myself working with Africa all my life," she said. "As clichéd as it might sound, the children really are our future." The Gulu Walk is co-sponsored by the University of Notre Dame, Indiana University South Bend and both Penn and Marian high schools. It is free and open to the public, though donations are welcome. There will be speakers and a rally at which child soldier testimonials will be read. For more information on the Gulu Walk and the war in northern Uganda, go to www.guluwalk.com or www. ugandacan.org.